Using Facebook insights to benefit your social presence

Facebook Insights is a very useful tool that allows you observe activity on your page, see how well your posts are performing and keeping track of Likes, which destination these Likes come from, the age range of users, gender of users and more.

Before you can start
If you’re new to Facebook Pages then you will need a minimum of 30 Likes before you will be able to access Insights. Hopefully, this won’t take you long, so make sure that you share your page through your personal profile to try and get those 30 Likes as soon as possible. Once you’ve gained this number, you will see the appearance of Insights on your page. Once your page is up & running you will have access to a wealth of information about the activity and interaction with your page.

Demographic data & more.
Based on each user’s IP address, you will be given data showing how many Likes come from which countries, as well as the majority and minority age groups and the gender of users that Like your page. Understanding the majority age range & gender of your users will help you to determine the feel and look of your posts, which will encourage users to interact with your posts. Getting users to share is also a great way to attract more Likes but encouraging these shares can be an art form in itself but by no means impossible. Take note of which posts are performing well by using the Insight data and tailor your post to suit to the best of your abilities. It will never be a quick win, or a short term solution, so don’t feel bad that many of your posts get little interaction, it is simply a case of trial and error whilst using the valuable information that Insights gives you.

Facebook Ads

If you want to target users in certain countries or regions of countries then Facebook Ads is a great way to reach them. If you’re a local business & you find that many of your Likes are coming from countries or areas of the country where those people won’t be able to visit your business then it’s best to get local. Using these ads, you can select your page ad only to be visible to users within a certain radius of your business, therefore increasing the chances of actual on-site visits. If you are solely online this is still very beneficial, as you may have a delivery service, which is only available in certain countries.

Don’t buy Likes
Buying ‘fake’ or ‘spam’ Likes online is definitely not recommended and this will dramatically effect the data you are given by Insights. This will harm any social campaign and will harm your social presence. Keep it natural and thanks to the date selection abilities, you will be able to view how many natural Likes you received on certain dates. This may help you to determine which days you are most likely to get Likes, as well as interaction on.

Timing is everything
You will be able to use Facebook Insights to discover the best times to post during the day. The obvious times like early morning is obviously best to avoid but you will soon see a pattern emerging once you start your social campaign. This will help you reach more people at a time when they a more likely to interact and keep note of special days like Bank Holidays or Easter Sunday, as well as Valentines Day & Christmas, as this may mean users are active at a different time of day and you can also change your post to maybe focus on these certain days. Please note that you will never have access to an individual’s personal profile information, Insights will only give you an overview of the majority of users and will never reveal personal information.

To make sure that your social presence is constantly improved, keep up regular updates and try to harness as much engagement as you can. It may not be easy but it can be very rewarding, especially when you start to see your Likes rise naturally and you begin to see your posts getting great engagement such as Likes, Comments and Shares. When it comes to comments, keep a look out for questions and those trying to interact with your business. This is the perfect way to engage directly with users and by using Insights, you will be able to figure out the best time of day when users may be more likely to comment directly.